1880 in music

This article is about music-related events in 1880.

Specific locations

 * 1880 in Norwegian music

Events

 * April 3 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance has its London premiere at the Opera Comique on the Strand.
 * June 12 – Richard Strauss completes composition of his first major work, his Symphony in D minor, at age 16.
 * June–August – Gustav Mahler takes his first professional conducting job, in a small wooden theatre in the Austrian spa town of Bad Hall, conducting operetta.
 * November 1 – Mahler completes composition of Das klagende Lied.
 * November 27 – The Teatro Costanzi in Rome is inaugurated with a performance of Rossini's opera Semiramide.

Published popular music

 * "The Beauty of Limerick" – David Braham
 * "Blow the Man Down"    trad
 * "Funiculì Funiculà"    w. G. Turco m. Luigi Denza
 * "Keep the Horseshoe Over the Door" w. m. Joseph P. Skelly
 * "Haste to the Wedding" published by Jean White
 * "In The Evening By The Moonlight" w. m. James A. Bland
 * "O Canada!" w. Adolphe-Basile Routhier m. Calixa Lavallée
 * "Roses from the South" m. Johann Strauss II
 * "Sailing, Sailing"    w.m. Godfrey Marks
 * "Softly and Tenderly" w.m. Will L. Thompson
 * From The Pirates of Penzance, w. W. S. Gilbert m. Arthur Sullivan
 * "Away, Away! My Heart's On Fire"
 * "Now for The Pirates' Lair"
 * "Oh, Better Far To Live And Die"
 * "A Rollicking Band Of Pirates, We"
 * "To Gain A Brief Advantage"
 * "When A Felon's Not Engaged"
 * "When The Foeman Bares His Steel"
 * "When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold"
 * "Yes! I Am Brave! Oh, Family Descent"
 * "Come and meet me, Rosa darling," w. by Samuel N. Mitchell, m. by William A. Huntley

Classical music

 * Ján Levoslav Bella – String Quartet No. 2 in C minor
 * Giovanni Bottesini – Gran Duo Concertante
 * Johannes Brahms
 * Tragic Overture
 * Academic Festival Overture
 * 2 Rhapsodies, Op.79, premiered January 20 in Krefeld.
 * Alfons Czibulka – Stephanie-Gavotte, Op.312
 * Felix Draeseke – Weihestunden. Six songs for baritone (or mezzo-soprano) and piano
 * Antonín Dvořák
 * Waltzes, Op.54
 * Violin Sonata, Op. 57 (B. 106)
 * Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60 (B. 112)
 * Songs My Mother Taught Me
 * Gabriel Fauré – Élégie, for cello and piano
 * César Franck – Piano Quintet, premiered January 17
 * Niels Gade – Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor, Op.56
 * Edvard Grieg – 2 Elegiac Melodies, Op.34
 * Emilie Mayer – Faust Overture
 * Ion Ivanovici – The Danube Waves
 * Hubert Parry – Piano Concerto
 * Giacomo Puccini – Messa di Gloria
 * Hans Rott – Symphony in E major
 * Camille Saint-Saëns
 * Suite algérienne in C major
 * Violin Concerto No. 3
 * Septet
 * Pablo Sarasate – Spanish Dances for violin and piano, Book III
 * Richard Strauss – Symphony in D minor
 * Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
 * 1812 Overture
 * Italian Capriccio, Op.45, premiered December 18 in Moscow.
 * Serenade for Strings

Opera

 * Dudley Buck – Deseret, or A Saint's Affliction
 * Léo Delibes – Jean de Nivelle
 * Miguel Marqués – Florinda
 * Adolf Neuendorff – The Rat-Charmer of Hamelin/Der Rattenfänger von Hameln
 * Anton Rubinstein – The Merchant Kalashnikov
 * George Stephănescu
 * Peste Dunare
 * Sinziana si Pepelea
 * Johann Strauss, Jr. – Das Spitzentuch der Königin, premiered October 10 in Vienna.

Musical theater

 * La Mascotte    Paris production
 * The Pirates of Penzance    London production

Published Writings

 * Alexander John Ellis – The History of Musical Pitch

Births

 * January 3 – Lina Abarbanell, German-American singer and actress (d. 1963)
 * January 5 – Nikolai Medtner, Russian pianist and composer. (d. 1951)
 * January 6 – John McKenna, traditional Irish flute player (d. 1947)
 * February 19 – Arthur Shepherd, American composer (d. 1958)
 * April 7 – Fritz Grünbaum, Austrian Caberet artist (murdered 1941)
 * June 13 – Vincent Rose, Italian-born American bandleader and composer (d. 1944)
 * July 5 – Jan Kubelík, Czech violinist (d. 1940)
 * July 24 – Ernest Bloch, Swiss-born American Jewish composer (d. 1959)
 * July 31 – Manuel Penella, Spanish composer (d. 1939)
 * September 19 – Zequinha de Abreu, Brazilian musician and composer (d. 1935)
 * September 20 – Ildebrando Pizzetti, Italian composer (d. 1968)
 * September 27 – Jacques Thibaud, French violinist (d. 1953)
 * October 12 – Healey Willan, English-born Canadian composer (d. 1968)
 * November 2
 * John Foulds, English-born composer (d. 1939)
 * Brian Hooker, American lyricist and librettist (died 1946)
 * Aunt Molly Jackson, American folk singer and union activist (d. 1960)

Deaths

 * January 24 – George Jackson Lambert, English organist and composer (born 1794)
 * February 18 – Christina Enbom, Swedish operatic soprano (born 1804)
 * March 20 – Joaquim Antônio da Silva Calado, choro composer and flautist (born 1848)
 * March 31 – Henryk Wieniawski, violinist and composer (born 1835) (heart attack)
 * May 1 – Samuel Naumbourg, composer (born 1817)
 * May 9 – Hermann Berens, composer (born 1826)
 * May 30 – James Planché, word artist (born 1796)
 * August 16 – Ernst Ferdinand Wenzel (born 1808)
 * August 17 – Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist (born 1810)
 * October 5 – Jacques Offenbach, composer (born 1819)
 * October 7 – Fredrika Stenhammar, operatic soprano (born 1836)
 * November 24 – Napoléon Henri Reber, composer (born 1807)
 * November 27 – William Saurin Lyster, opera impresario (born 1828)
 * December 2 – Josephine Lang, composer (born 1815)
 * December 27 – Alessandro Nini, composer (born 1805)
 * date unknown – Knut Eriksson Helland, Hardanger fiddle maker (born 1851)